Mr. Cellistoo and I are looking into other FF opportunities with the NW/DL merger. Being a MSP captive is one drawback to Continental (as we would lose the NW non-stops). However, the recent DRAMATIC increase in M, B and Y Fares on NW (doubled and tripled and often more than Z fares) has made international upgrades basically a joke, and means the loss of one of our favorite benefits of the program.

My understanding on Continental is that you can upgrade tickets with $$- not sure if this also requires miles- or if you can use miles instead of $$.

Mr. Cellistoo is a NW Platinum- mainly through business travel. I am a silver- mainly through the purchase of B & Y international fares. However, one serious drawback I see to Continental is the requirement that tickets be purchased on continental.com to receive 100% EQM. Since Mr. Cellistoo's company requires the purchase of tickets through the corporate travel agent, this is a major drawback to switching. Is there any way around this?

I believe M, H, K, Q, U, V, and G fares can be purchased anywhere and receive 100% EQMs. Continental's BusinessFirst upgrades require miles + $$$. All of Europe is considered BF.

This limitation only applies to W/E/S/T/N/L fares, and there is no way around it.

There are two ways around this problem...unethical and ethical.

The unethical option is the one most often practiced - wait until the sub-100% fares are gone, then go to the travel portal and book the ticket.

The other option which works best at a smaller company who uses a travel agency instead of a portal system, is petitioning the company to order the agency setup a Continetal TA portal account - essentially a co.com website for travel agents to log on and book travel. Tickets booked through this system all earn 100%.

His company is in the fortune 100 and uses a portal- just wondering if CO ever cuts deals in these types of situations to get business. I think the "preferred" airlines are currently AA and NW, but who knows what might change in the future. When Hertz was the preferred car rental agency, every traveling ee was granted elite status in their program...

It seems to me from others I have talked to that this is a major hurdle to switching from NW (ehem Delta) to Continental at this point. Seems like an opportunity for CO.

In this case, I might suggest having the exec in charge of travel policy (if there is sufficient momentum within the ranks to use CO) contact the CO sales person for their region and see what can be done.

If not, it would be up to your husband to do what countless others have been doing since this policy was initiated - watch the availability sites for the 50% inventory buckets to dry up, then jump on their portal and book.